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Inuvik Drum News briefs

Local news around the Beaufort Delta
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Steve Baryluk has been named deputy mayor of Inuvik.

Steve Baryluk named deputy Mayor of Inuvik

Returning town councillor Steve Baryluk has been named deputy mayor of Inuvik. Tradition holds that the councillor who received the highest number of votes gets the first crack at the job. Baryluk garnered 448 votes in last month's municipal election. Town council unanimously approved his appointment.

Meanwhile, newly-elected town councillor Kendall McDonald, who received the second-highest vote total with 392, has been selected as the town's assistant deputy mayor.

Blake acclaimed mayor of Fort McPherson

Rebecca Blake has been acclaimed as mayor of Fort McPherson. Following the nomination period, which ended Nov. 12, she was the only candidate to put her name forward for the office. She will serve a two-year term.

Seven district education authority seats are up for election and the vote for those will be cast Dec. 9.

Town appoints judges for Christmas Light Up and beautification contests

Councillors Ned Day and Mario Lemieux will judge the Christmas Light Up contest in Inuvik this year. Lemieux will also serve as judge in next year's town beautification contest alongside assistant deputy mayor Kendall McDonald. Judging for the Christmas Light Up contest will take place during the second week of December.

Territory's GDP in decline

The NWT’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) dropped from 2022 to 2023, while all but one other Canadian jurisdiction experienced increases.

The territory’s GDP fell by 0.4 per cent year-over-year, according to a new report from Statistics Canada. In a news release, the NWT’s Bureau of Statistics contended that “the NWT’s economy is driven by a few goods-producing industries whose GDP may rise or fall over the short to medium term.”

The release also noted that the pandemic disrupted some industries, and that recovery has taken some time.

In terms of specific industries within the territory, the GDP for the mining, oil and gas extraction sector fell by 33.5 per cent through 2023, while the diamond mining sector experienced a much smaller decrease of 2.1 per cent. The GDP for transportation and warehousing fell by 4.1 per cent, due in part to “a decline in pipeline transportation due to lower oil and gas extraction,” the release stated. “Other industries such as educational services and management of companies and enterprises also declined between 2022 and 2023,” it added.

Educational services fell by less than a percentage point, while management of companies and enterprises plummeted 38.1 per cent — the largest drop of any sector.

However, some industries experienced increases in terms of GDP. The rate increase by 3.5 per cent for health care and social assistance, 5.3 per cent for wholesale trade, and 12.5 per cent for accommodations and food services — “one of the hardest-hit sectors of the pandemic,” per the release. The construction sector experienced a 7 per cent increase. The fields of public administration, retail trade, and real estate, rental and leasing also experienced small increases.



About the Author: Eric Bowling

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